Band 6.0 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 6.0 · Cambridge IELTS 11 · 2026-10-09

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

The charts below show the proportions of British students at one university in England who were able to speak other languages in addition to English, in 2000 and 2010

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Student answer (Band 6.0)

The pie charts illustrate the percentages of British students at one particular university in England who were able to speak languages other than English, in the years 2000 and 2010.

Overall, the figure for no other language accounted for the largest segment in both years,

while the speakers of French and Spanish decreased. By contrast, the proportion allocated to another language and two other languages increased. Regarding the three biggest categories, no other language made up the largest part of the chart at 30% in 2000, and then rose to 35% after a decade.

At the beginning of the period, spanish and french accounted for 20% and 15%, respectively, these figures then fell considerably to identical 10%.

For remaining three categories, two other languages increased from one-tenth to 15%. Similarly, the figure for another language rose from 15% to 20%, whereas students who speak german remained constant at 10% in both years.

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 6.0

You identify the main pattern accurately: “No other language” is the largest category in both years, Spanish and French decline, and the “another language” and “two other languages” groups grow. The figures you give match the chart, including the unchanged 10% for German. However, the overview and comparisons are brief, and some categories receive less development than others; for example, the rise in “no other language” is reported, but the overall shift between students speaking another language and those speaking none could be made clearer. The response is also 144 words, below the 150-word minimum; eight words copied from the prompt are excluded. Add a little more relevant comparison and detail to meet the requirement.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 6.0

The response has a clear overall arrangement: an introduction, an overview, and then details about the categories. This makes the main comparisons easy to follow, and phrases such as “By contrast” and “Similarly” help connect related trends. However, the progression is somewhat mechanical, with several details presented in a list-like sequence. The transition “Regarding the three biggest categories” is not fully apt, since the following discussion does not consistently compare only the three largest categories. The final paragraph also groups the remaining categories without a particularly clear organising principle. Use more precise transitions and group the figures consistently—for example, declining categories, increasing categories, and the unchanged category.

Lexical Resource: Band 6.0

You use an adequate range of chart vocabulary, including “accounted for,” “proportion,” “increased,” “fell,” and “remained constant.” These choices communicate the trends clearly, and the meaning is not impeded. Some phrasing is less natural or precise: “the proportion allocated to another language” sounds as if the chart assigns a share, rather than describing students, while “the figure for no other language” could be expressed more directly. There are also spelling and form issues in “spanish,” “french,” and “german,” which should be capitalised as language names. Aim for consistent, accurate labels such as “students speaking no other language” and “the proportion speaking another language.”

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.5

You use a mix of simple and more complex sentence forms, including a contrast with “while” and a comparison introduced by “whereas.” Most sentences communicate the data successfully. Some grammatical and punctuation errors remain, however. In “At the beginning of the period, spanish and french accounted for 20% and 15%, respectively, these figures then fell,” two independent clauses are joined with only a comma; use a full stop, semicolon, or conjunction. The sentence beginning “For remaining three categories” also needs an article (“For the remaining three categories”), and “students who speak german” shifts to the present tense while describing past-year data. Keep the past-tense reporting consistent and check clause boundaries.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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